Tottenham sealed an incredible comeback in Amsterdam on Wednesday night after going two goals down to Ajax, leaving the tie 3-0 against them at half-time.
And one player who was directly responsible for that mountain to climb was defender Kieran Trippier.
He had a horror first-half at the Johan Cruyff Arena and was responsible for both Ajax goals.
The second came from when he lost possession of the ball on the left-hand side, and pundit Jermaine Jenas ripped into him on commentary of the game (BT Sport, Wednesday, 8pm).
“He’s got to be stronger than that. It’s not acceptable. That’s what happens when you’re not.
“Once he took the hit in the face he seems to give up and you can’t do that. You’ve got to be stronger. Take the hit.”
OPINION
Trippier has come in for sustained criticism this season from Tottenham fans and he had a first-half to forget in Amsterdam. To be fair to Trippier, he did battle on in the second-half and put in some decent crosses from the right. In fact he was much better all over the pitch in the second 45, as were pretty much all the Spurs players. Trippier was taken off in the 81st minute of the game with Erik Lamela coming on as Tottenham poured forward to try and find the late winner. That came, but very late on, as Lucas Moura completed his hat-trick in the 96th minute to leave the Tottenham fans in raptures and manager Mauricio Pochettino in tears. We thought the Liverpool game was dramatic the night before. This was even more so and sets up an all-English final in June in Madrid. It’s a crowning achievement for Pochettino and fans will be desperately hoping that he was joking in the pre-match press conference when he hinted he might leave if he won the Champions League with Tottenham this season.